As a singer-songwriter-orchestra leader, Sufjan Stevens' biggest strength is his ability to overcome the inevitable sense of preciousness that he has been both acclaimed and criticized for. Appropriately enough then, Stevens started off last night's set at the Paramount Theatre (a venue probably chosen for it's quaint spelling of "theatre" as much as its bourgeois seating arrangement and art deco backdrop) with the intimidating 8-minute title track from his latest album The Age of Adz set to a backdrop of animations that fell somewhere between Metropolis and the trench run scene from Star Wars. more ›

Kids, it's time to get rocking. (Especially before the "Private Party" dry spell that is coming on. Yikes.) This week, the San Francisco music gods are offering a vast array of newbies and veterans - something that we will graciously partake of any day of the week. Now that the bets are in (okay, so no one really cast any bets - how boring is that?), you can go to Cafe du Nord, tonight,... more ›

-- Metropolis (1927): Set in 2027, "the thinkers" and "the workers" overlap, shooting off a million theses and dissertations for years to come. Fritz Lang's gorgeous, science-fiction masterpiece. Oh, and there's a sexy robot in it. Oh my. Film Screens at 4:30p.m., 7, 9:30 at the Castro Theatre, 429 Castro (at Castro and Market Streets). more ›

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Our live music picks for the week of 3/10-3/16. more ›